Jan 08 2009
The End of the World, Part I
The Anchoress has posted mortality rants. It’s a very Irish thing, I sometimes think.
Elizabeth Scalia, aka The Anchoress, was writing about pessimistic comments about society changing, not for the better. Senator Ted Kennedy told some friends that when they became his age, ”the whole thing is going to fall apart”. And Roger Ebert, he of movie criticism fame, recently opined that politicians must work together because “It’s all coming to pieces”.
I was enjoying a cup of tea while I read. I began to post a short response, but it grew. That happens a lot lately. Sheesh - reading The Anchoress is turning into homework. And my tea is cold.
Anyway, Sen. Kennedy’s “the whole thing is going to fall apart” and Ebert’s “It’s all coming to pieces” are nothing more than mortality rants.
Men and women both have them, but I think maybe women start earlier.* They come when a person starts looking back at the great days and perceives that few of those days lie ahead. Vain women complain, for example, about the unfairness of aging or the birthday with a zero in it.
